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version 1.35, 2009/08/21 12:12:12 version 1.117, 2012/06/20 22:06:30
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 .\"     $Id$  .\"     $Id$
 .\"  .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>  .\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
   .\" Copyright (c) 2011 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
 .\"  .\"
 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any  .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above  .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
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 .Dd $Mdocdate$  .Dd $Mdocdate$
 .Dt MAN 7  .Dt MAN 7
 .Os  .Os
 .  
 .  
 .Sh NAME  .Sh NAME
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 .Nd man language reference  .Nd legacy formatting language for manual pages
 .  
 .  
 .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The  Traditionally, the
 .Nm man  .Nm man
 language was historically used to format  language has been used to write
 .Ux  .Ux
 manuals.  This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and  manuals for the
 usage.  .Xr man 1
 .  utility.
   It supports limited control of presentational details like fonts,
   indentation and spacing.
   This reference document describes the structure of manual pages
   and the syntax and usage of the man language.
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bf -emphasis  .Bf -emphasis
 Do not use  Do not use
 .Nm  .Nm
 to write your manuals.  to write your manuals:
 .Ef  .Ef
   It lacks support for semantic markup.
 Use the  Use the
 .Xr mdoc 7  .Xr mdoc 7
 language, instead.  language, instead.
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 An  In a
 .Nm  .Nm
 document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control  document, lines beginning with the control character
 character  
 .Sq \&.  .Sq \&.
 are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of  are called
 prior macros:  .Dq macro lines .
   The first word is the macro name.
   It usually consists of two capital letters.
   For a list of available macros, see
   .Sx MACRO OVERVIEW .
   The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro.
   .Pp
   Lines not beginning with the control character are called
   .Dq text lines .
   They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
   depends on the respective processing context:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.  \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.  Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .  
 .Sh INPUT ENCODING  
 .Nm  
 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the  
 space character, and the tabs character.  All manuals must have  
 .Ux  
 line termination.  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a  Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
 vertical space.  
 .  
 .Pp  
 The  
 .Sq \ec  
 escape is common in historical  
 .Nm  .Nm
 documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the  language are based on the
 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.  .Xr roff 7
 .  language; see the
 .  .Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX
 .Ss Comments  
 Text following a  
 .Sq \e\*" ,  
 whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of  
 line.  A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,  
 .Sq \&.\e" ,  
 is also ignored.  Macro lines with only a control charater and  
 optionally whitespace are stripped from input.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Special Characters  
 Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.  
 Sequences begin with the escape character  
 .Sq \e  
 followed by either an open-parenthesis  
 .Sq \&(  
 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket  
 .Sq \&[  
 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket  
 .Sq \&] ) ;  
 or a single one-character sequence.  See  
 .Xr mandoc_char 7  
 for a complete list.  Examples include  
 .Sq \e(em  
 .Pq em-dash  
 and  and
 .Sq \ee  .Em MACRO SYNTAX
 .Pq back-slash .  sections in the
 .  .Xr roff 7
 .  manual for details, in particular regarding
 .Ss Text Decoration  comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
 Terms may be text-decorated using the  
 .Sq \ef  
 escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R  
 (Roman, or reset).  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Whitespace  
 Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned  
 from input.  These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end  
 utility such as  
 .Xr mandoc 1 .  
 .  
 .  
 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE  .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
 Each  Each
 .Nm  .Nm
 document must contain contains at least the  document must contain the
 .Sq TH  .Sx \&TH
 macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur  macro describing the document's section and title.
 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the  It may occur anywhere in the document, although conventionally it
 first macro.  appears as the first macro.
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Beyond  Beyond
 .Sq TH ,  .Sx \&TH ,
 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  Documents  at least one macro or text line must appear in the document.
 are generally structured as follows:  .Pp
   The following is a well-formed skeleton
   .Nm
   file for a utility
   .Qq progname :
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -literal -offset indent
 \&.TH FOO 1 "13 Aug 2009"  \&.TH PROGNAME 1 2009-10-10
 \&.  
 \&.SH NAME  \&.SH NAME
 \efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here  \efBprogname\efR \e(en a description goes here
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.  \&.\e\(dq .SH LIBRARY
 \&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY  \&.\e\(dq For sections 2 & 3 only.
 \&.  \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 \&.SH SYNOPSIS  \&.SH SYNOPSIS
 \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...  \efBprogname\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...
 \&.  
 \&.SH DESCRIPTION  \&.SH DESCRIPTION
 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...  The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...
 \&.  \&.\e\(dq .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 \&.\e\*q .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES  \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.  \&.\e\(dq .SH RETURN VALUES
 \&.\e\*q .SH EXIT STATUS  \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  \&.\e\(dq .SH ENVIRONMENT
 \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES  \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.  \&.\e\(dq .SH FILES
 \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT  \&.\e\(dq .SH EXIT STATUS
 \&.\e\*q .SH FILES  \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, & 8 only.
 \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES  \&.\e\(dq .SH EXAMPLES
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.  \&.\e\(dq .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS  \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.  \&.\e\(dq .SH ERRORS
 \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS  \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
 \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO  \&.\e\(dq .SH SEE ALSO
 \&.\e\*q \efBbar\efR(1)  \&.\e\(dq .BR foo ( 1 )
 \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS  \&.\e\(dq .SH STANDARDS
 \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY  \&.\e\(dq .SH HISTORY
 \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS  \&.\e\(dq .SH AUTHORS
 \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS  \&.\e\(dq .SH CAVEATS
 \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS  \&.\e\(dq .SH BUGS
 \&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS  \&.\e\(dq .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
   \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .  
 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX  
 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a  
 control character ,  
 .Sq \&. ,  
 at the beginning of the line.  An arbitrary amount of whitespace may  
 sit between the control character and the macro name.  Thus,  
 .Sq .PP  
 and  
 .Sq \&.\ \ \ PP  
 are equivalent.  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  The sections in a
 .Nm  .Nm
 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line  document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.
 macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations,  Sections should be composed as follows:
 the subsequent line).  Block macros are scoped to the current line and  .Bl -ohang -offset indent
 subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.  .It Em NAME
 .  The name(s) and a short description of the documented material.
 .  The syntax for this is generally as follows:
 .Ss Line Macros  
 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body  
 consisting of zero or more arguments.  If a macro is scoped to the next  
 line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,  
 else the general syntax is used.  Thus:  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.I  
 foo  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 is equivalent to  .D1 \efBname\efR \e(en description
 .Sq \&.I foo .  .It Em LIBRARY
 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.  The name of the library containing the documented material, which is
 If a next-line macro is proceded by a block macro, it is ignored.  assumed to be a function in a section 2 or 3 manual.
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  For functions in the C library, this may be as follows:
 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB  
 \(lBbody...\(rB  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"  .D1 Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope  .It Em SYNOPSIS
 .It    B     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device
 .It    BI    Ta    n         Ta    current  configuration.
 .It    BR    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    DT    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    I     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    IB    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    IR    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    R     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    RB    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    RI    Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    SB    Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    SM    Ta    n         Ta    next-line  
 .It    TH    Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current  
 .It    br    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    fi    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    i     Ta    n         Ta    current  
 .It    na    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    nf    Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    r     Ta    0         Ta    current  
 .It    sp    Ta    1         Ta    current  
 .El  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 The  For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
 .Sq RS ,  generally structured as follows:
 .Sq RE ,  
 .Sq br ,  
 .Sq fi ,  
 .Sq i ,  
 .Sq na ,  
 .Sq nf ,  
 .Sq r ,  
 and  
 .Sq sp  
 macros aren't historically part of  
 .Nm  
 and should not be used.  They're included for compatibility.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Block Macros  
 Block macros are comprised of a head and body.  Like for in-line macros,  
 the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the  
 next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a  
 subsequent block macro invocation.  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB  
 \(lBhead...\(rB  
 \(lBbody...\(rB  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed  .D1 \efBname\efR [-\efBab\efR] [-\efBc\efR\efIarg\efR] \efBpath\efR...
 by  
 .Sq SH ;  
 sub-section, closed by a section or  
 .Sq SS ;  
 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or  
 .Sq RE ;  
 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,  
 .Sq HP ,  
 .Sq IP ,  
 .Sq LP ,  
 .Sq P ,  
 .Sq PP ,  
 or  
 .Sq TP .  
 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent  For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  
 .It   HP     Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   IP     Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   LP     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   P      Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   PP     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph  
 .It   RE     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none  
 .It   RS     Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part  
 .It   SH     Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section  
 .It   SS     Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section  
 .It   TP     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph  
 .El  
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line  .D1 \&.B char *name(char *\efIarg\efR);
 macros (excluding  .Pp
 .Sq DT ,  And for the third, configurations (section 4):
 .Sq TH ,  .Pp
 .Sq br ,  .D1 \&.B name* at cardbus ? function ?
 .Sq na ,  .Pp
 .Sq sp ,  Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a
 .Sq nf ,  .Em SYNOPSIS .
 and  .It Em DESCRIPTION
 .Sq fi ) .  This expands upon the brief, one-line description in
 .  .Em NAME .
 .  It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a
 .Sh REFERENCE  command).
   .It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
   Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
   This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
   effects or notable algorithmic implications.
   .It Em RETURN VALUES
   This section documents the return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.
   .It Em ENVIRONMENT
   Documents any usages of environment variables, e.g.,
   .Xr environ 7 .
   .It Em FILES
   Documents files used.
   It's helpful to document both the file name and a short description of how
   the file is used (created, modified, etc.).
   .It Em EXIT STATUS
   This section documents the command exit status for
   section 1, 6, and 8 utilities.
   Historically, this information was described in
   .Em DIAGNOSTICS ,
   a practise that is now discouraged.
   .It Em EXAMPLES
   Example usages.
   This often contains snippets of well-formed,
   well-tested invocations.
   Make sure that examples work properly!
   .It Em DIAGNOSTICS
   Documents error conditions.
   This is most useful in section 4 manuals.
   Historically, this section was used in place of
   .Em EXIT STATUS
   for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
   discouraged.
   .It Em ERRORS
   Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.
   .It Em SEE ALSO
   References other manuals with related topics.
   This section should exist for most manuals.
   .Pp
   .D1 \&.BR bar \&( 1 \&),
   .Pp
   Cross-references should conventionally be ordered
   first by section, then alphabetically.
   .It Em STANDARDS
   References any standards implemented or used, such as
   .Pp
   .D1 IEEE Std 1003.2 (\e(lqPOSIX.2\e(rq)
   .Pp
   If not adhering to any standards, the
   .Em HISTORY
   section should be used.
   .It Em HISTORY
   A brief history of the subject, including where support first appeared.
   .It Em AUTHORS
   Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.
   Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.
   .It Em CAVEATS
   Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained
   in this section.
   .It Em BUGS
   Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described
   in this section.
   .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
   Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
   .El
   .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
   This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
   together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose.
   Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found
   in the alphabetical reference below.
   .Ss Page header and footer meta-data
   .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
   .It Sx TH Ta set the title: Ar title section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
   .It Sx AT Ta display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
   .It Sx UC Ta display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
   .El
   .Ss Sections and paragraphs
   .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
   .It Sx SH Ta section header (one line)
   .It Sx SS Ta subsection header (one line)
   .It Sx PP , LP , P Ta start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
   .It Sx RS , RE Ta reset the left margin: Op Ar width
   .It Sx IP Ta indented paragraph: Op Ar head Op Ar width
   .It Sx TP Ta tagged paragraph: Op Ar width
   .It Sx HP Ta hanged paragraph: Op Ar width
   .It Sx \&br Ta force output line break in text mode (no arguments)
   .It Sx \&sp Ta force vertical space: Op Ar height
   .It Sx fi , nf Ta fill mode and no-fill mode (no arguments)
   .It Sx in Ta additional indent: Op Ar width
   .El
   .Ss Physical markup
   .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
   .It Sx B Ta boldface font
   .It Sx I Ta italic font
   .It Sx R Ta roman (default) font
   .It Sx SB Ta small boldface font
   .It Sx SM Ta small roman font
   .It Sx BI Ta alternate between boldface and italic fonts
   .It Sx BR Ta alternate between boldface and roman fonts
   .It Sx IB Ta alternate between italic and boldface fonts
   .It Sx IR Ta alternate between italic and roman fonts
   .It Sx RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts
   .It Sx RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts
   .El
   .Sh MACRO REFERENCE
 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged  This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see  alphabetically.
   For the scoping of individual macros, see
 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .  .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
 .  .Ss \&AT
 .  Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 .Ss Definitions  .Tn AT&T UNIX
 In this reference, a numerical width may be either a standalone natural  releases.
 number (such as 3, 4, 10, etc.) or a natural number followed by a width  The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
 multiplier  .Ss \&B
 .Qq n ,  
 corresponding to the width of the formatted letter n, or  
 .Qq m ,  
 corresponding to the width of the formatted letter m.  The latter is the  
 default, if unspecified.  Thus,  
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  
 \&.HP 12n  
 .Ed  
 .  
 .Pp  
 indicates an offset of 12  
 .Qq n  
 .Ns -sized  
 letters.  
 .  
 .  
 .Ss Macro Reference  
 .Bl -tag -width Ds  
 .It B  
 Text is rendered in bold face.  Text is rendered in bold face.
 .It BI  .Pp
 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus,  See also
   .Sx \&I
   and
   .Sx \&R .
   .Ss \&BI
   Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.
   Thus,
 .Sq .BI this word and that  .Sq .BI this word and that
 causes  causes
 .Sq this  .Sq this
 and  and
 .Sq and  .Sq and
 to render in bold face, while  to render in bold face, while
 .Sq word  .Sq word
 and  and
 .Sq that  .Sq that
 render in italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  render in italics.
 .It BR  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .Pp
   Examples:
   .Pp
   .Dl \&.BI bold italic bold italic
   .Pp
   The output of this example will be emboldened
   .Dq bold
   and italicised
   .Dq italic ,
   with spaces stripped between arguments.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&IB ,
   .Sx \&BR ,
   .Sx \&RB ,
   .Sx \&RI ,
   and
   .Sx \&IR .
   .Ss \&BR
 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).  Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It DT  .Pp
 Re-set the tab spacing to 0.5 inches.  See
 .It HP  .Sx \&BI
   for an equivalent example.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&BI ,
   .Sx \&IB ,
   .Sx \&RB ,
   .Sx \&RI ,
   and
   .Sx \&IR .
   .Ss \&DT
   Has no effect.
   Included for compatibility.
   .Ss \&EE
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   In
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   it does the same as
   .Sx \&fi .
   .Ss \&EX
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   In
   .Xr mandoc 1 ,
   it does the same as
   .Sx \&nf .
   .Ss \&HP
 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but  Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:  subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 \&.HP [width]  .Pf \. Sx \&HP
   .Op Cm width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If  The
 .Va width  .Cm width
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  argument is a
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  .Xr roff 7
 .It I  scaling width.
   If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the
   saved or default width is used.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   and
   .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&I
 Text is rendered in italics.  Text is rendered in italics.
 .It IB  .Pp
 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace  See also
 between arguments is omitted in output.  .Sx \&B
 .It IP  and
 Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:  .Sx \&R .
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Ss \&IB
 \&.IP [head [width]]  Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.
   Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
   .Pp
   See
   .Sx \&BI
   for an equivalent example.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&BI ,
   .Sx \&BR ,
   .Sx \&RB ,
   .Sx \&RI ,
   and
   .Sx \&IR .
   .Ss \&IP
   Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&IP
   .Op Cm head Op Cm width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 This follows the behaviour of the  The
 .Sq TP  .Cm width
 except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of  argument is a
 having next-line scope).  If  .Xr roff 7
 .Va width  scaling width defining the left margin.
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  default width is used.
 .It IR  .Pp
   The
   .Cm head
   argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.
   This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   and
   .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&IR
 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).  Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It LP, P, PP  .Pp
 Begin an undecorated paragraph.  The scope of a paragraph is closed by a  See
 subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file.  The saved  .Sx \&BI
 paragraph left-margin width is re-set to the default.  for an equivalent example.
 .It R  .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&BI ,
   .Sx \&IB ,
   .Sx \&BR ,
   .Sx \&RB ,
   and
   .Sx \&RI .
   .Ss \&LP
   Begin an undecorated paragraph.
   The scope of a paragraph is closed by a subsequent paragraph,
   sub-section, section, or end of file.
   The saved paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   and
   .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&OP
   Optional command-line argument.
   This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
   It has the following syntax:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&OP
   .Cm key Op Cm value
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The
   .Cm key
   is usually a command-line flag and
   .Cm value
   its argument.
   .Ss \&P
   Synonym for
   .Sx \&LP .
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   and
   .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&PP
   Synonym for
   .Sx \&LP .
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   and
   .Sx \&TP .
   .Ss \&R
 Text is rendered in roman (the default font).  Text is rendered in roman (the default font).
 .It RB  .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&I
   and
   .Sx \&B .
   .Ss \&RB
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.  Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It RE  .Pp
   See
   .Sx \&BI
   for an equivalent example.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&BI ,
   .Sx \&IB ,
   .Sx \&BR ,
   .Sx \&RI ,
   and
   .Sx \&IR .
   .Ss \&RE
 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior  Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
 .Sq RS .  .Sx \&RS .
 .It RI  The default left margin is restored to the state of the original
   .Sx \&RS
   invocation.
   .Ss \&RI
 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.  Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 .It RS  .Pp
 Begin a part setting the left margin.  The left margin controls the  See
 offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as  .Sx \&BI
 that of  for an equivalent example.
 .Sq PP .  .Pp
 The width may be specified as following:  See also
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Sx \&BI ,
 \&.RS [width]  .Sx \&IB ,
   .Sx \&BR ,
   .Sx \&RB ,
   and
   .Sx \&IR .
   .Ss \&RS
   Temporarily reset the default left margin.
   This has the following syntax:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&RS
   .Op Cm width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 If  The
 .Va width  .Cm width
 is not specified, the saved or default width is used.  argument is a
 .It SB  .Xr roff 7
   scaling width.
   If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&RE .
   .Ss \&SB
 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)  Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
 bold face.  bold face.
 .It SH  .Ss \&SH
 Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another  Begin a section.
 section or the end of file.  The paragraph left-margin width is re-set  The scope of a section is only closed by another section or the end of
 to the default.  file.
 .It SM  The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
   .Ss \&SM
 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default  Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
 font).  font).
 .It SS  .Ss \&SS
 Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a  Begin a sub-section.
 subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.  The paragraph  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent sub-section,
 left-margin width is re-set to the default.  section, or end of file.
 .It TH  The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
   .Ss \&TH
 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:  Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 \&.TH title section [date [source [volume]]]  .Pf \. Sx \&TH
   .Ar title section date
   .Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 At least the  Conventionally, the document
 .Va title  .Ar title
 and  is given in all caps.
 .Va section  The recommended
 arguments must be provided.  The  .Ar date
 .Va date  format is
 argument should be formatted as  .Sy YYYY-MM-DD
 .Qq %b [%d] %Y  as specified in the ISO-8601 standard;
 format, described in  if the argument does not conform, it is printed verbatim.
 .Xr strptime 3 .  If the
   .Ar date
   is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
   The optional
   .Ar source
   string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
 The  The
 .Va source  .Ar volume
 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  The  string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the
 .Va volume  manual section.
 replaces the default rendered volume as dictated by the manual section.  .Pp
 .It TP  Examples:
   .Pp
   .Dl \&.TH CVS 5 "1992-02-12" GNU
   .Ss \&TP
 Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is  Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
 followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a  followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a
 buffer to the indentation width.  Subsequent output lines are indented.  buffer to the indentation width.
 .  Subsequent output lines are indented.
 .Pp  The syntax is as follows:
 The indentation width may be set as follows:  .Bd -filled -offset indent
 .Bd -literal -offset indent  .Pf \. Sx \&TP
 \&.TP [width]  .Op Cm width
 .Ed  .Ed
 .  
 .Pp  .Pp
 Where  The
 .Va width  .Cm width
 must be a properly-formed numeric width.  If  argument is a
 .Va width  .Xr roff 7
 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if  scaling width.
   If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.  unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 .It br  .Pp
 Breaks the current line.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.  See also
 .It fi  .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   and
   .Sx \&PP .
   .Ss \&UC
   Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
   BSD releases.
   The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
   .Ss \&br
   Breaks the current line.
   Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&sp .
   .Ss \&fi
 End literal mode begun by  End literal mode begun by
 .Sq nf .  .Sx \&nf .
 .It i  .Ss \&ft
 Italicise arguments.  If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text  Change the current font mode.
 is italicised.  See
 .It na  .Sx Text Decoration
 Don't alignment the right margin.  for a listing of available font modes.
 .It nf  .Ss \&in
   Indent relative to the current indentation:
   .Pp
   .D1 Pf \. Sx \&in Op Cm width
   .Pp
   If
   .Cm width
   is signed, the new offset is relative.
   Otherwise, it is absolute.
   This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.
   .Ss \&na
   Don't align to the right margin.
   .Ss \&nf
 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of  Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of
 line boundaries preserved.  May be ended by  line boundaries preserved.
 .Sq fi .  May be ended by
 .It r  .Sx \&fi .
 Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).  Literal mode is implicitly ended by
 .It sp  .Sx \&SH
 Insert n spaces, where n is the macro's positive numeric argument.  If  or
 0, this is equivalent to the  .Sx \&SS .
 .Sq br  .Ss \&sp
   Insert vertical spaces into output with the following syntax:
   .Bd -filled -offset indent
   .Pf \. Sx \&sp
   .Op Cm height
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The
   .Cm height
   argument is a scaling width as described in
   .Xr roff 7 .
   If 0, this is equivalent to the
   .Sx \&br
 macro.  macro.
   Defaults to 1, if unspecified.
   .Pp
   See also
   .Sx \&br .
   .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
   The
   .Nm
   macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.
   Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some
   situations, the subsequent line).
   Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until
   closed by another block macro.
   .Ss Line Macros
   Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
   consisting of zero or more arguments.
   If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,
   the next line, which must be text, is used instead.
   Thus:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.I
   foo
   .Ed
   .Pp
   is equivalent to
   .Sq \&.I foo .
   If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
   If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is
   raised, except for
   .Sx \&br ,
   .Sx \&sp ,
   and
   .Sx \&na .
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope     Ta Em Notes
   .It Sx \&AT  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&BI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&BR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&DT  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&IB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&IR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&OP  Ta    0, 1      Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&R   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&RB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&RI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&UC  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&br  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&fi  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&ft  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&in  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&na  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&nf  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&sp  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat
 .El  .El
 .  .Pp
 .  Macros marked as
   .Qq compat
   are included for compatibility with the significant corpus of existing
   manuals that mix dialects of roff.
   These macros should not be used for portable
   .Nm
   manuals.
   .Ss Block Macros
   Block macros comprise a head and body.
   As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in
   one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in
   .Sx Line Macros
   apply here as well).
   .Pp
   The syntax is as follows:
   .Bd -literal -offset indent
   \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBhead...\(rB
   \(lBbody...\(rB
   .Ed
   .Pp
   The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
   by
   .Sx \&SH ;
   sub-section, closed by a section or
   .Sx \&SS ;
   part, closed by a section, sub-section, or
   .Sx \&RE ;
   or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,
   .Sx \&HP ,
   .Sx \&IP ,
   .Sx \&LP ,
   .Sx \&P ,
   .Sx \&PP ,
   or
   .Sx \&TP .
   No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
   .Pp
   As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
   while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
   implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
   .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent
   .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  Ta Em Notes
   .It Sx \&HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&RE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    compat
   .It Sx \&SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section     Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section Ta    \&
   .It Sx \&TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
   .El
   .Pp
   Macros marked
   .Qq compat
   are as mentioned in
   .Sx Line Macros .
   .Pp
   If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
   macros for decorating text.
   .Ss Font handling
   In
   .Nm
   documents, both
   .Sx Physical markup
   macros and
   .Xr roff 7
   .Ql \ef
   font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.
   In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by escape sequences
   only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts
   until the end of the macro scope.
   Note that macros like
   .Sx \&BR
   open and close a font scope for each argument.
 .Sh COMPATIBILITY  .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at  This section documents areas of questionable portability between
 this time limited to  implementations of the
 .Xr groff 1 .  .Nm
 .Bl -hyphen  language.
   .Pp
   .Bl -dash -compact
 .It  .It
 In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a  Do not depend on
 standalone double-quote in formatted output.  This idiosyncratic  .Sx \&SH
 behaviour is no longer applicable.  or
   .Sx \&SS
   to close out a literal context opened with
   .Sx \&nf .
   This behaviour may not be portable.
 .It  .It
   In quoted literals, GNU troff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce
   a standalone double-quote in formatted output.
   It is not known whether this behaviour is exhibited by other formatters.
   .It
   troff suppresses a newline before
   .Sq \(aq
   macro output; in mandoc, it is an alias for the standard
   .Sq \&.
   control character.
   .It
 The  The
 .Sq sp  .Sq \eh
 macro does not accept negative numbers.  .Pq horizontal position ,
   .Sq \ev
   .Pq vertical position ,
   .Sq \em
   .Pq text colour ,
   .Sq \eM
   .Pq text filling colour ,
   .Sq \ez
   .Pq zero-length character ,
   .Sq \ew
   .Pq string length ,
   .Sq \ek
   .Pq horizontal position marker ,
   .Sq \eo
   .Pq text overstrike ,
   and
   .Sq \es
   .Pq text size
   escape sequences are all discarded in mandoc.
 .It  .It
 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text  The
 lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace  .Sq \ef
 in free-form text lines.  scaling unit is accepted by mandoc, but rendered as the default unit.
   .It
   The
   .Sx \&sp
   macro does not accept negative values in mandoc.
   In GNU troff, this would result in strange behaviour.
   .It
   In page header lines, GNU troff versions up to and including 1.21
   only print
   .Ar volume
   names explicitly specified in the
   .Sx \&TH
   macro; mandoc and newer groff print the default volume name
   corresponding to the
   .Ar section
   number when no
   .Ar volume
   is given, like in
   .Xr mdoc 7 .
 .El  .El
 .  .Pp
 .  The
   .Sx OP
   macro is part of the extended
   .Nm
   macro set, and may not be portable to non-GNU troff implementations.
 .Sh SEE ALSO  .Sh SEE ALSO
   .Xr man 1 ,
 .Xr mandoc 1 ,  .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 .Xr mandoc_char 7  .Xr eqn 7 ,
 .  .Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
 .  .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 .Sh AUTHORS  .Xr roff 7 ,
   .Xr tbl 7
   .Sh HISTORY
 The  The
 .Nm  .Nm
   language first appeared as a macro package for the roff typesetting
   system in
   .At v7 .
   It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro package for groff.
   Eric S. Raymond wrote the extended
   .Nm
   macros for groff in 2007.
   The stand-alone implementation that is part of the
   .Xr mandoc 1
   utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
   .Ox 4.6 .
   .Sh AUTHORS
   This
   .Nm
 reference was written by  reference was written by
 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .  .An Kristaps Dzonsons ,
 .  .Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
 .  
 .Sh CAVEATS  .Sh CAVEATS
 Do not use this language.  Use  Do not use this language.
   Use
 .Xr mdoc 7 ,  .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 instead.  instead.
 .  
Legend:
Removed from v.1.35  
changed lines
  Added in v.1.117
CVSweb